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From his interview with Barbara Walters:
“When people are pulling down hundred-million-dollar bonuses on Wall Street, and taking enormous risks with other people’s money, that indicates a sense that you don’t have any perspective on what’s happening to ordinary Americans. When the auto makers are getting paid far more than their counterparts at Toyota, or at Honda, and yet, they’re losing money a lot faster than Japanese auto makers are, that tells me that they’re not seeing what’s going on out there, and one of the things I hope my presidency helps to usher in is a, a return to an ethic of responsibility.
That if you’re placed in a position of power, then you’ve got responsibilities to your workers. You’ve got a responsibility to your community. Your share holders. That if — there’s got to be a point where you say, ‘You know what, I have enough, and now I’m in this position of responsibility, let me make sure that I’m doing right by people, and, and acting in a way that is responsible.’ And that’s true, by the way, for members of Congress, that’s true for the president, that’s true for Cabinet members, that’s true for parents. I want all of us to start thinking a little bit more, not just about what’s good for me, but let’s start thinking about what’s good for our children, what’s good for our country. The more we do that, the better off we’re going to be.”
Thanks again, to the President that took our good name and utterly ruined it globally. Thanks again to the complete fools that elected this fool, who was completely and utterly unqualified to run a baseball team (which he failed at) let alone a world superpower. January 20th can’t get here any sooner.
I joined in today at the rally at Volunteer Park in Seattle, Washington, which then became a march across Capitol Hill, down Pine Street, and finally into a huge celebration and second rally at Westlake Center. I guestimated about 10,000 people, and am seeing estimates online now of 6,000-9,000. It was amazing, and a strong nationwide civil rights action. There were protests and actions in nearly all major American cities, it looks like. These are my photos:
Click here for a non-slideshow view of them all.
How is it my home state gets things right, while California gets it so wrong? Did the church money overlook Connecticut?
“It shows me that public opinion is really changing,” said Robin Levine-Ritterman, the first in line at City Hall in New Haven to get a marriage license with her partner of 17 years, Barbara, who already shares the same last name as a result of their prior civil union, as she clutched red roses.
The official start of gay weddings, a month after the state’s top court struck down a gay-marriage ban, underscores a steady expansion of gay rights in the U.S. Northeast in sharp contrast to California’s November 4 vote to ban such marriages, which sparked weekend protests by thousands.
Government by proposition, referendum, and initiative is great up to a point–but sometimes you need a neutral and bipartisan judiciary to tell the people crafting illegal and unconstitutional laws, well, when they’re crafting illegal and unconstitutional laws.
How does this work? The Church moved to import millions (tens of millions?) of advertising dollars across state lines from Utah to California to ensure Proposition 8 and the banning of marriage rights for same-sex couples passed, and they’re upset now that others are using their free speech rights to protest the free speech that the Church used. That’s only extremely hypocritical, boys. Did the Churches honestly think they were exempt from scrutiny and criticism here…?
It is disturbing that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being singled out for speaking up as part of its democratic right in a free election.
Members of the Church in California and millions of others from every faith, ethnicity and political affiliation who voted for Proposition 8 exercised the most sacrosanct and individual rights in the United States - that of free expression and voting.
While those who disagree with our position on Proposition 8 have the right to make their feelings known, it is wrong to target the Church and its sacred places of worship for being part of the democratic process.
The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn’t require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.
This is lovely. I can see the value of not naming to the general public which banks are receiving the money–it would be an invitation to have runs begin on those banks. But to refuse to name them to lawmakers, who need to know these things? And to refuse to name non-banking institutions that received the public money? Uh uh, no way. The Bush administration again oversteps it’s bounds, and provides further demonstration of how they run America as a tinpot dictatorship.
On our way to Portland
Originally uploaded by joeszilagyi
Sent from my mobile phone.
The America which Obama described in his speech–that is the America that my parents told me about when I was young, after they came here. That was and is my home.
Good night, America.
Good night, America. And sleep well.
194 with Ohio. Add WA/OR/CA/HI, that’s almost there– 59% FL reporting, Obama still up there for another 27 electoral. I’m about to explode here.
Did we REALLY need to see Gina Yellin by hologram? I mean, really?
Their coverage so far of the election is blowing CNN’s away. They’re even running results with commercials boxed off so you can see them during most of the commercials.
Should I go see if anyone is waving an American flag on Fox News?
Never forget:
Total class, yessir. Obama’s grandmother Madelyn Dunham, that raised him, died last night. I’m actually reading Dreams From My Father, his book, right now. The book talks about her, in great detail, and often. They were incredibly close, and she was a second mother to him. Reading about this (final?) Republican attack during the campaign made me angry. I mean, really? Honestly?
Leaving no potential avenue of attack unexplored, the Republican National Committee has decided to bash Barack Obama over his October visit to see his ailing grandmother in Hawaii.
Of course the visit itself is not being criticized, but rather the way the campaign paid for the nominee’s unscheduled detour. On Monday afternoon, the RNC blasted out a complaint from the California Republican Party charging that “Obama for America violated federal law by converting its campaign funds to Senator Obama’s personal use” for the trip. That proposed issue for the FEC to investigate is one of five violations alleged by California Republicans in their complaint (which you can read in its entirety here).
McCain should tell the RNC to shut the fuck up. If they had an ounce of class or dignity they would simply have said, oh, I don’t know–”Would you mind just repaying the campaign the expenses?”–if they wanted to try to honestly make an issue of this. What next–if a close family member of his dies if he wins the election will they complain if he flies home on Air Force One? Where were the complaints when the Secret Service had to pay to protect and supervise the wedding of George W. Bush’s daughter in Texas? Hypocrites.
Go vote. This is what our brothers, sisters, and ancestors fought and died for. We’re going in a little bit, as soon as the AM cobwebs burn off from the caffeine fire. I’m already flipping between CNN, Fox, and MSNBC pretty much rapid fire. A bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream is held as a reserve weapon of mass destruction in case I need it early and the exit polling goes haywire. Otherwise, I think we’re going to bag out of the various election night party opportunities we have since we’re going to be up very early for a train ride…
We only get today to not ruin the next four years. Do it right:
I read this on The Stranger a week ago, and kept thinking about it. I don’t agree with all of the idea, as seen here on The Slog. Eli Sanders, one of the staffers at The Stranger, wrote…
Because, when you step back and look at Obama’s achievements, and consider them in the context of not just the last eight years but also in the context of more than 230 years of American history, it can be hard to describe how big what’s occured, and what’s probably coming, feels.
The other day, during one of these awe-stopped conversations, I found myself wondering, when we ran out of words, whether this was simply because we were seeing the emergence of something none of us had experienced in our lifetimes, but had heard a lot about: the arrival of a Great Man.
All of us in the conversation were under 32. We belong to a generation that not only hasn’t experienced leadership by any Great Men (or Women), but is somewhat predisposed not to believe in the Great Man Theory of history anyway. We’re taught that the world is complicated, post-modern, maybe even sub-altern. That the locus of power is hard to find, and probably not singular. That the heroic journey of the individual and the master narrative are a bit old-fashioned.
I do believe in the theory–an iconic figure with enough force of will can and has changed the world in the past, for either good or evil. I don’t even consider that up for debate. It’s a central narrative of both our real history, and has been retold countless times in fiction, dating back centuries in tales. Christ, Spartacus, Bonaparte, Churchill, Hitler, Gandhi, Mandela, Stalin. Fictional tales abound–just in recent times that leap off the top of my head are Neo from the Matrix films, and John Connor from the Terminator films; Scrooge in Dickens, and many others. Force of will and the person can change history. In American terms and an American context, who have we seen like this, since Franklin Delano Roosevelt? Ever since John F. Kennedy, or his brother Bobby, no sitting President has come close. The Kennedys may have come close eventually, had they not been murdered. I can’t think of any of any, beyond that. Is Obama on the level of FDR, Churchill, or the fictional John Connors of the world?
Obviously, he isn’t–yet. He may just be a good housekeeper sort-of President should he win tomorrow, as Bill Clinton I think ultimately was. Will he be as destructive and as dangerous to America as George W. Bush has been these past years? I find that highly unlikely, to be very honest. Could Obama eventually fall under that category of men?
It’s possible, of course. The circumstances and times that a man serves (his family, his nation, or his world) define him. Thanks to the Republicans and the massive abuses they’ve heaped on American in the wake of 9/11 and the incorrect response to it–Iraq, it’s been proven time and again, had nothing to do with the World Trade Center bombings–along with their allowing the American and world economies to all but crumble on their watch, Obama should he win tomorrow will have a failure of epic proportion to repair. Obama will inherit two wars, vile relationships with Iran and various other Middle Eastern nations, an economny left in smoking ruins to benefit the elite wealthy Republican base that has tried to manipulate and game America to their fiscal profit, and a nation completely torn down the middle due to the dirty politics that have been the rule since Richard Nixon was exposed and thrown out as a criminal of the highest order.
Obama may be the one that can fix all of this. I think trusting the mess to the Republican political party that created it, and hoping or praying that they change their ways after nearly forty years of deceit, would be a terrible mistake. America can’t afford another four years of mistakes, when we have the past eight to repair, and the shadows of the pasty forty to cleanse.
Is Obama a great man? Maybe he is; maybe he isn’t; and he probably is not yet. But it’s time to trust him, because to walk down the same broken road we’ve been on is insanity.
You know, McCain has fought and bled for our country, loves our country. There’s too many questions with Barack Obama and his loyalty to our country and I question that greatly.
Why do they even put this guy on Fox News anymore? Do they honestly believe he’s helping McCain-Palin at this point, or is it some weird Joe Six-Pack anesthetic for some people? Joe the Plumber is the new opiate for the masses?
Via Dan Savage:
The campaign may be officially over. No, really. This is made of awesome.
Why do we need four years of Obama, or eight years, or–wouldn’t it be wonderful?–eight years of Obama and eight of Biden to follow? Consider:
1. John Paul Stevens, appointed by Ford. Age 88 in 2008.
2. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, appointed by Clinton. Age 75 in 2008.
3. Antonin Scalia, appointed by Reagan. Age 72 in 2008.
3. Anthony Kennedy, appointed by Reagan. Age 72 in 2008.
4. Stephen Breyer, appointed by Clinton. Age 70 in 2008.
5. David Souter, appointed by GHW Bush. Age 69 in 2008.
6. Clarence Thomas, appointed by GHW Bush. Age 60 in 2008.
8. Samuel Alito, appointed by GW Bush. Age 58 in 2008.
9. John G. Roberts, appointed by GW Bush. Age 53 in 2008.
Did you know we’ve gone to war with Iran now? No? Didn’t? Neither did I…
I mean… what? 25 seconds of video, in which Palin announces the Republicans winning the White House, then fixing the United States economy, AND “shoring up” the “wars” verus Iraq AND Iran in 100 days.
Wow.
1. I didn’t know we’re at war WITH Iraq. They’re not Germany or North Korea last I heard. Last I heard, we’re fighting insurgents trying to overthrow and destabilize the new Iraqi government.
2. We’re at war with Iran? I guess the “mainstream media” sure sucks for missing that headline.
